No Kidding: LPGA Does More to Keep Its Families Together

Dustin Eggeling shakes his head in disgust at bad golf shots. No excuse, no mercy.

Pretty hard-line for a 5-year-old, but then, he’s used to seeing exceptional golf, as the son of Mike, a Tommy Armour golf products representative, and Dale, an LPGA player. The Eggelings are among the families that are elated with the new LPGA child-care program, begun this year to help keep players concentrating on their backswings, not on their offspring.

Last year the LPGA approached Tony Verite of Rancho Mirage to find a way to provide reliable care in a portable environment. Now, each week he packs up the entire child-care classroom, from carpets to crayons, and trucks it cross-country from tournament to tournament.

“The moms on tour were always talking about starting it,” Verite says. “There had been something different in the way of child care for each tournament. Some golfers had to bring nannies, some husbands came along. Some tournaments provided care and some didn’t.

“There’s a real need for this in pro sports--or in businesses or military-type things that require a lot of travel,” Verite says. Plus, when the moms get a break, he says, they can come in and spend quality time with the kids.

The LPGA had the foresight to put money where its words were to initiate the program, Verite adds, and this “could be a model for other programs. It’s tough when there’s so much traveling involved. But it’s wonderful to see the same people again.”